Tuesday, 29 January 2008

Today's Daily Telegraph has a nice piece by Jim Al-Khalili on the forgotten scientific geniuses from the early centuries of Islam. It looks at how, while Christian Europe languished in what some historians view as the "Dark Ages", the Islamic world, with Baghdad at its centre, became the driving force behind advances in philosophy, astronomy, medicine and mathematics.

One figure mentioned is abu Uthman al-Jahith who, between 781-869AD may have preceded Darwin in speculating that environment influences the development of species. In his Book of Animals al-Jahith wrote: "Animals engage in a struggle for existence; for resources, to avoid being eaten and to breed. Environmental factors influence organisms to develop new characteristics to ensure survival, thus transforming into new species. Animals that survive to breed can pass on their successful characteristics to offspring."

The article tells how this period of Islamic scientific discovery began around 813 when the caliph of Baghdad, al-Ma'mun was instructed by Aristiotle, in a dream, to "seek knowledge and enlightenment", and offers possible explanations for why this golden age drew to a close from the 13th century onwards.

1 comments:

The people Al-Khalili needs to inform about Darwin are the influential Imams in this country such as Ibrahim Mogra. Here is his response to my 2006 Darwin Day article in Leicester Mercury:

http://www.leicestersecularsociety.org.uk/creationism_cofe.htm#6

His last paragraph begins:

"Although I have said Muslims must embrace scientific findings, these findings will still be subject to scrutiny under the light of the teachings of the Koran. That is exactly why Darwin's theory of Evolution, suggesting the human being started as something very different, is not acceptable."